


Only for Tonight

by ABirdWhoSquawks



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 10:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11757663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABirdWhoSquawks/pseuds/ABirdWhoSquawks
Summary: The threat defeated, Chariot offers Croix a cup of tea and a place to stay.





	Only for Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my good friend oceankasko on Tumblr, whom I wrote this for on their birthday

Pale white moonlight filtered in through the bay window, mingling with a set of flickering candles. Together they cast the room in a light far brighter than was fitting for the time of night.

Chariot, rather than looking at the witch sitting across the table from her, stared down at the teacup in her hand, long since gone cold. She dared not speak, as if the silence surrounding the two was a holy artifact in danger of breaking.

Croix felt it too. The danger was gone, sure, but the resolution had not come. This moment should have felt peaceful, serene even. Instead it just felt fragile. She wished that time would stop for them, that they could sit there for days, so long as not a word was spoken. But she knew that her time was limited. And so she spoke.

"So it's all over now, isn't it?"

Chariot looked up from her tea. Croix was looking at her with a tired smile Chariot hadn't seen in over a decade. "I suppose it is."

"You really do have some incredible students." Croix fiddled with the handle of her own cup. The small talk didn't mean much, but it was easier than saying anything else.

"I suppose I do."

Croix looked around Chariot's chambers. She wondered what professor had lived here, back when they were students. Back before she had ruined everything.

"Chariot, why am I here?"

"Huh?" The question caught Chariot off-guard.

"Why did you offer to let me stay?"

Chariot looked away instinctively. "Well, you leave tomorrow morning, and you needed a place to stay, so..."

"You didn't have to offer." Croix didn't know why the words came out sounding so angry. "I could have found somewhere else."

Chariot thought for a moment. "Then here's a question: Why did you accept?"

The question through Croix off-balance. Regardless, she didn't answer. "Chariot, after all I've done, after everything I've put you and everyone else through, how on earth could you invite me into your home? You should hate me. You should _despise_ me."

Chariot flinched at the bitterness in Croix's voice. "How could I ever hate you?"

"I spent ten years plotting against you. A decade of work dedicated to hurting you and doing everything you couldn't." She grimaced. "I wanted you to hate me as much as I wanted to hate you."

"Do you hate me, Croix?"

Despite herself, Croix smiled. "I spent ten years trying to, but..." she shook her head.

"Croix..." Chariot got up from her chair and crouched by Croix's. "Through all those years I wished more than anything we had never found the Claimh Solais. I've missed you so deeply." She laid her hand on Croix's; Croix didn't pull away. "You have to leave tomorrow, right?"

Croix nodded. "And I doubt I'll be back for a long time."

"I lost you for ten years." Chariot's voice shook as she spoke. "How could I not be with you, the last night I have a chance?"

Croix could feel her throat seize up at the sound of Chariot's voice. "God..." She choked as she wound their fingers together. "I'll never understand you."

"Croix, please." Chariot said, a new resolve in her voice. "Forget about what happened today. Forget about the past ten years. It's done." Her grip on Croix's hand tightened. "We can deal with that tomorrow, but tonight... tonight I just want what we had back."

"Chariot..." Croix could feel her heart pumping in her ears. She felt it ache, reaching out for something she knew she had no right to want.

"I don't know when I'll ever get to say this, so I'll say it now." As she leaned in, Chariot's ruby-red eyes took the breath out of Croix's lungs. They always had.

"Croix, I love you."

In all her life, Croix Meridies never thought she would hear her say that. For just a moment, she was a student again, lying out in the fields by Luna Nova with her best friend, both smiling and feeling things that neither could articulate. Content to just sit and watch the clouds roll by.

But she was not that student now. Now, she was a thirty-year-old super-villain whose decade-long revenge plot had nearly ruined countless lives, including that of the one she cared most about.

"You shouldn't."

"Croix, I've loved you since our first semester together." Ruby-red eyes burned into their turquoise counterparts. "Through all these years I've never stopped loving you. I couldn't stop if I tried."

"Chariot..." Croix could feel her walls crumbling. She knew she didn't deserve her, told herself she couldn't want her, but with Chariot's face so close to hers her resolve had melted away. "Kiss me, please."

When their lips met, time finally froze. At once, they were students and professors and best friends and lovers. The moment they shared was holy, but not fragile. Peaceful. Serene, even.

 


End file.
